The Montreal Canadiens will play their final home pre-season game tonight, hosting the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre.
After icing a near complete lineup on Saturday night, Martin St-Louis has decided to offer a few more auditions and err on the side of caution with his top line as well.
The second line remaining duo of Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach has been split in readiness for tonight’s game. The fourth line, set since day one of camp, has also been split. The lines, for tonight at least, are as follows:
Joshua Roy-Dach-Joel Armia
Emil Heineman-Jake Evans-Brendan Gallagher
Alex Barre-Boulet-Christian Dvorak-Oliver Kapanen
Michael Pezzette-Lucas Condotta-Luke Tuch
As for the pairings, it’s youth central aside from the right honourable David Savard, of course, with the following combinations:
Jayden Struble-Justin Barron
Adam Engstrom-David Savard
Arber Xhekaj-Logan Mailloux
It’s interesting to see Xhekaj paired with a defenseman who appears to be destined for another season in Laval this year and Struble paired up with Barron. Is this a message to Xhekaj? Did St-Louis not like how the Sheriff reacted to the Laine hit because it shortened his bench too much? That would be harsh, in my opinion. After all, the coaches could have told Xhekaj not to interfere and that someone else would take care if they didn't want to lose another defenseman, but they failed to do so.
Up front, Kapanen’s audition as a winger is telling. After all, he was the first player mentioned by Jeff Gorton as a possible replacement for Patrik Laine, and he had never played on the wing as a pro.
Condotta and Tuch were recalled from Laval this morning and are getting another chance to impress. The coach needed some AHL talent to dress instead of risking using any of his other veterans. Nobody would blame St-Louis if that was the reason.
Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators are coming to town with an interesting roster that does feature NHL talent:
Brady Tkachuk-Tim Stutzle-Drake Batherson
Ridly Greig-Josh Norris-David Perron
Matthew Highmore-Shane Pinto-Matthew Amadio
Noah Gregor-Adam Gaudette-Zack MacEwen
Jake Sanderson- Carter Yakemchuk
Thomas Chabot-Artem Zub
Tyler Kleven-Nick Jensen
Linus Ullmark-Anton Forsberg
The puck is set to drop at 7:00 PM, and the Canadiens will only have one more pre-season tilt left when they visit the Senators in Ottawa on Saturday.
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